“A People Holy Unto the Lord (Deuteronomy 14-15)", Will DuVal | 4/12/26
Deuteronomy 14-15 | 4/12/26 | Will DuVal
What would you do if you found out I had HIRED someone to iron my shoelaces for me?
Or I invited you over for dinner, and insisted on publicly WEIGHING you on a scale before and after dinner, to make sure you left well-fed? And I ALSO insisted that you stop eating as soon as I had taken my last bite?
Or after dinner, if we went on a walk around the pond, and I started claiming all the swans we saw swimming as belonging to ME. “That’s MY swan!” - You would think I’d lost my MIND, wouldn’t you?
And yet, if I were King CHARLES, or Prince WILLIAM, apparently all these ODD traditions would be quite NORMAL. Because when you are ROYALTY, you play by a different set of rules and etiquette. You DRESS differently, SPEAK differently, even EAT differently; as a matter of fact, just like the Israelites we’re gonna read about here momentarily, apparently the British royal family refuses to eat SHELLFISH as well (in their case, for fear of food poisoning).
But the POINT is, when you’re ROYALTY, you’re called to a different STANDARD, a HIGHER standard.
Now listen to how the New Testament refers to US, the CHURCH: “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood (we’re ROYALTY! Peter continues on; you are…) a holy nation, a people for [God’s] own possession” (1 Pet 2:9).
To be “holy” is to be “set APART… different.”
And that is exactly what God’s people are called to this morning in Deuteronomy chs 14 & 15 “you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all peoples on the earth… “You are the sons of [YHWH] your God. ” (14:1-2)
We’re at Elijah’s friend’s birthday party; I tell him, “Son, I want you to eat your carrot sticks before you get any cake.” He says, “But no one ELSE ate their carrot sticks!” How am I going to RESPOND?
“They’re not my SON!” If their parents want them to learn to waste food and be Vitamin A-deficient, then that’s their prerogative.
But as for YOU, YOU are the “son of WILL, your Father.” And I have CHOSEN you - I ADOPTED you - to be my “treasured possession, out of ALL the kids on the earth…”. (I don’t actually refer to my son as my “possession”, but you get the point:) He is MY son, and we’ve got certain rules, certain expectations in our family, that YES, may mean that at times he’s held to a different - a HIGHER standard. Because our BELONGING ought to determine our BEHAVIOR - ““You are the sons of the Lord your God” - “you belong to ME,’ God says, “now ACT like it. “
That’s what Deuteronomy 14-15 is all about: God is laying out - or rather, He’s REMINDING Israel; because as we’ll see, all FOUR of the categories of “distinctiveness” that He’s gonna call them to here are REPEAT commandments from the books of Exodus and Leviticus - so God is REITERATING here His expectations of HIS people, his “HOLY” ‘set apart’ people.
And there are a couple different ways we could CONCEPTUALIZE of His categories here - I had considered titling this sermon “Kosher-Eating, Sabbatical-Keeping… Tithe-Giving Devoted-Living” - it made for great rhyming, but it was too much of a mouth-full, and MOREOVER, it doesn’t really get at the heart of the PRINCIPLES that God wants to convey to us here.
We’ve discussed in recent weeks how with ANYTHING we read in God’s word - but ESPECIALLY the Old Testament and ESPECIALLY the Old Testament LAWS - we have to distinguish between the historically-conditioned PRACTICES that only applied to ancient ISRAEL… vs. the timelessly-relevant PRINCIPLES that still apply to US, today.
“Bring God 10% of your GRAIN…”
“Set free your SLAVES…”
“Sacrifice the firstborn of your FLOCK”
“Don’t eat PIGS”! - they are ALL (praise GOD!) just PRACTICES, no longer in EFFECT, no longer BINDING for Christians today. Most of us don’t own farms, NONE of us (I HOPE!) own SLAVES, we no longer NEED to bring SACRIFICES, because Jesus “by a single offering has now perfected for all time those” of us who belong to Him (Heb 10:14). And praise God, we can now eat all the bacon and BBQ that our hearts desire (or that they can ENDURE, anyway; mind those arteries!) but we no longer keep kosher because JESUS declared all foods CLEAN (Mk 7:19) and the NEW Testament now deems “everything created by God [as] good, and nothing is to be rejected [as long as] it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim 4:4). Thank GOD for those baby back ribs!
So God’s TAKEAWAYS for US this morning aren’t just narrowly about what we eat, how much we give back, how we treat our employees… they’re BIGGER than that; BROADER, more all-encompassing of our whole lives. Yes, God DOES care about our BODIES, our WALLETS, our WORK habits… but He cares about FAR MORE than that as well, as we’ll see.
So I invite you to STAND with me as you’re able... Deut 14-15… Hear the word of the Lord:
““You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead. 2 For you are a people holy to [YHWH] your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
3 “You shall not eat any abomination. 4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.
9 “Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.
11 “You may eat all clean birds. 12 But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle,[b] the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 13 the kite, the falcon of any kind; 14 every raven of any kind; 15 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; 16 the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl 17 and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, 18 the stork, the heron of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat. 19 And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20 All clean winged things you may eat.
21 “You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.
“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
Tithes
22 “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
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24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
28 “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29 And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
ch15:1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. 3 Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And to your female slave you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
19 “All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. 21 But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatsoever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.” This is the word of God…
There are FOUR PERTINENT PRINCIPLES I discern here, underlying plenty of now passé practices. But before we even get to the first, we should note God’s command in v1; we really could have added a FIFTH principle: that we’re called to holiness in how we MOURN OUR DEAD - “You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead.” These were apparently common pagan practices at the time; we’re not really sure WHY. Some speculate that it was a way of publicly demonstrating one’s grief. And you can imagine where that likely would have LED: the more your GRIEF, the bigger the CUTS. But God says, “No.” Your body is a TEMPLE; don’t mistreat it (1 Cor 3:16). In the NT He says, we do “not grieve like others do who have no hope.” (1 Ths 4:13) “SURE, the CANAANITES (then) or the ATHEISTS (today) may afflict themselves and be inconsolable in their bereavement, because they have no HOPE; no hope in the life to COME. But not YOU,” God says, “YOU have the hope of CHRIST, the One who declared, ““I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live!” (Jn 11:25). So ACT like it; GRIEVE like it.”
And that’s just your BONUS principle; just half of verse 1. But our| first FULL principle now of the four is that…
#1- We are called to holiness with what goes INTO us. (14:3-21)
In context here, that means FOOD. Now, I’ve already pointed out that the kosher dietary restrictions mentioned here are no longer relevant for us; in Mark 7, Jesus declared all foods “clean” (v19); in Acts 10, God specifically instructed Peter to eat bacon (vv9-16); the apostle Paul adds “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink” (Col 2:16); for “Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do” (1 Cor 8:8).
So these specific kosher PRACTICES are no longer in effect today. But what’s the underlying PRINCIPLE for us?
Here’s how I explained it back when we FIRST encountered the kosher laws back in Leviticus ch11:
“There are different THEORIES about how God determined his LIST here. One is the HEALTH theory: God warned them to avoid PORK cuz it’s bad for you and contained higher amounts of harmful bacteria. The problem with that theory is that camel and rabbit are actually quite healthy meats, while BEEF, cow meat, is actually worse for you than PORK.
[Another is the “UNNATURAL creatures” theory] Notice what God says in [v6]: “[Every animal that] parts the hoof and… chews the cud” - why those criteria? Because that’s how beasts of the field are SUPPOSED to be, were CREATED to be. Allan Moseley explains (116): “[Some] interpreters point out that the animals listed [here] are divided into the same categories in which they were created… From that parallel [they] say that the forbidden foods of Lev 11 [or Deuteronomy 14 now] are forbidden because their appearance does not conform to the creation order. For example, fish that don’t have fins or scales… appear to defy their proper form and kind”.
…Look at this list: …Ostriches (v15) - UNNATURAL doesn’t even BEGIN to cover it; a bird taller than Pastor BRIAN that CAN’T fly, but RUNS faster than a GREYHOUND, with a head DETACHED from its BODY - that is downright DEMONIC if you ask me!
…Vultures (v13)... BATS (v16) - a BAT is a RAT with wings and NEEDLES for teeth and a thirst for BLOOD; these animals are WICKED, and terrifying and disgusting. They are DISTORTIONS of God’s perfectly good creation order, and they are to be AVOIDED.” (DuVal, “Leprosy & Mold…” sermon, Feb 25, 2024).
So that’s another theory. But here’s the SIMPLEST: what if “God labeled certain foods off-limits simply to set Israel APART from her neighbors. Israel was supposed to be DIFFERENT from the surrounding pagan nations and their DIET was just one way to DEMONSTRATE that, to externalize it…
[So too for us TODAY,] Church: God wants us to be HOLY. Distinct… Maybe it IS in what we eat or drink. Maybe it DOES mean just one drink for you, when your unbelieving friends are enjoying [one too MANY. Or you avoid STARBUCKS, because they pay for employees’ abortions and transgender surgeries. Or you watched “Dominion”, and now you just can’t in good conscience support the factory farming industry. Maybe our diet SHOULD look different as Christians…]
But our MOUTHS aren’t the ONLY way stuff comes in. How about our EYES… our EARS… How about our HEARTS? …Our externalized holiness should also extend to things like… our MEDIA consumption. What we WATCH and LISTEN to… and how MUCH of it! [Or our RELATIONSHIPS;] 2 Corinthians 6 says, “Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers”; …don’t let them that DEEP inside your HEART.
Garbage in, garbage OUT. So “be HOLY,” God says, “as I am HOLY”.
“So whether you eat or drink, [or WATCH or LISTEN or SCROLL or BEFRIEND or MARRY] or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31).” (ibid).
Pursue HOLINESS in ALL that you CONSUME - put INTO your body, your mind, and especially your HEART.
And #2- and conversely, we are called to holiness with what comes FROM us, as well. (14:22-29)
Once again, the specific context here is much more NARROW than that: vv22-29 are talking now about TITHING; “you shall TITHE all the yield of your seed…”. What does the word “tithe” even MEAN?
It literally means “TENTH”, and it refers to the practice of giving one TENTH of your income, or arguably, your TAKE-home income - cuz v22 here says “all the YIELD (or INCREASE) of your seed” - but either way, giving a portion, a TENTH, back to the LORD. And many will argue that there are actually MULTIPLE tithes commanded in the Law, in this very PASSAGE; because they read v28 here - and ““At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce… and lay it up within your towns [for] the Levite… the sojourner, the fatherless, the widow” - some understand that to be a SEPARATE, SECOND tithe every THIRD year on top of the YEARLY tithe that went to the TEMPLE. And then some scholars even understand the TEMPLE tithe to include both a tenth for the FEASTS and a tenth for the Levites, specifically. So the TOTAL required of every Israelite may well have been more like 23.3% of their income given back to God.
The FIRST tithe ever recorded in Scripture was the one Abram offered in Genesis 14 to Melchizedek. But tithing is all over the OT - over 2 DOZEN references… and then it all but DISAPPEARS in the NT; it’s mentioned in just 3 places: Hebrews 7 helps interpret ABRAM’s tithe, then in Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable about a self-righteous Pharisee who proudly and publicly tithes, but most notably in Matthew 23, Jesus pronounces: “Woe to you, Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin [spices], but you’ve neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” (v23)
Here’s how I interpreted that, in an “Ask the Pastor” podcast episode - “Should we still TITHE?” - from 2019:
“TWO things stand out about Jesus’ words here in Matt 23 –
1) The tithe is NOT what’s most important. And YET,
2) We still ought to AT LEAST tithe.
Let’s take them in turn: for starters… God cares MOST about our HEARTS… It turns out we can give our 10% faithfully, just like the Pharisees, and stand CONDEMNED before Jesus; why? Because our generosity IS and OUGHT to be, ultimately, a matter of the HEART… The most informative book on the topic of “giving” in Scripture is 2 Corinthians [especially] ch.9: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you… As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor…”
I LOVE how Paul ties our giving EXPLICITLY back to the gospel – we give to bless others because of how much WE realize that WE have been so richly and eternally blessed in Christ. That’s our motive, our GOAL in giving… that our generosity might “overflow in many thanksgivings to God” (v12)...
And [by the way] we’ve got to remember [that] we’re not REALLY giving ANYWAY. [It’s a bit of a MISnomer] GOD’s the only one who can truly give… EVERYTHING I have I have received from a good and gracious God. I’m just a STEWARD of the resources that HE’s given me. He gives some more than others. And it’s not about how MUCH you give. Mark 12… the “widow’s mite”; she gives just a few pennies, but in Jesus’ eyes, because of her HEART, AND we might add, because of the PERCENTAGE of her gift – Jesus commends her for “putting in everything she had”.
But the second takeaway from Matt 23 is that I believe we ought to AT LEAST tithe. Jesus said “These you OUGHT to have done, (sure – you OUGHT to tithe your spices... or your salary, your stock earnings, your tax refund - that’s GOOD to do; you OUGHT to still do that...) WITHOUT neglecting justice and mercy and faithfulness,” the even MORE important commands… You want the NT picture of giving? It’s the early church in Acts 2: “all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (vv44-45) First century Christianity was full-on communism!...
All that to SAY, if… I’m just a steward, and God has made it clear that he wants back at LEAST a tenth, perhaps as much as 23.3% in the OT, and as much as EVERYTHING in the NT… I think the better question [than “How much do I HAVE to give?”] is “How much CAN I give… I want to DESIRE to give AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE back to the Lord…
But here’s the sad reality. Studies show that LESS than 10% of regular churchgoers today tithe. If 10% is a minimum suggested offering, less than 10% of Christians are giving the minimum. And on AVERAGE… American churchgoers [this isn’t the NOMINAL Christians; “Christians in Name Only”; the “CHREASTERS” here twice a year; not them, but the REGULARS] we give on average about TWO% of our income to the church, studies show.
[Now, I’d LIKE to think we got the average beat here at West Hills. Our budget - you can see in the bulletin - is looking healthy right now, praise God; our BUILDING fund, for the renovation, is looking healthy; we’re turning last year’s pledges into this year’s PAYMENTS, praise God. And if you weren’t WITH us last year, it’s not too LATE to pledge… to GIVE! The Church isn’t the ONLY one who’ll be blessed by it; YOU will. And those who don’t YET know the Lord will as well, since we’re expanding to make room for THEM to come hear the gospel.]
…But I want to be able to say with Paul: “As a result of your ministry, men will give glory to GOD. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace that God has given to you.” (2 Cor9:13) AMEN!” (DuVal)
AND ALSO… that’s just the mini-sermon on giving MONEY; I already TOLD you the PRINCIPLE here is way BIGGER than that: “Holiness with respect to EVERYTHING that ‘comes FROM us’”. Do we tithe on our TIME? Does God get 10% of your time, or at LEAST your free time - the “INCREASE of your hours”, what’s left over after work and sleep?
Do we tithe on our THOUGHTS? “EVERYTHING that comes from us”; does God get 10% of your mental energy and attention?
Friends, He DESERVES it all… He DESIRES it all - “You shall LOVE the Lord your God with… 10% of your heart, mind & soul? No- with ALL of your heart, mind, soul & strength”! He is worthy of it ALL.
#3- We’re called to holiness in our HORIZONTAL relationships. (15:1-18) Our relationships with one ANOTHER.
Once again, the immediate context here is rather specific; ch15 now is talking about releasing DEBTS you’re owed (in vv1-7), lending FREELY to others (vv8-11), and releasing SLAVES every 7 years (in vv12-18). I’m not gonna spend much time on the SLAVERY thing; how it was really more like “indentured servitude” and often saved the person from dying of starvation otherwise; how it was OFTENtimes - as in vv16 & 17 here, “if he says, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and… is well-off with you” - slavery in their context was often VOLUNTARY, even PREFERRED by some, not at all like the chattel slavery of the Antebellum South.
But in ANY case, the main POINT here is that in EVERY case - with their SLAVES, with their “poor brothers among you”, and with their DEBTORS, God calls Israel here - and calls US - to selfless, sacrificial care for the OTHER.
Don’t hold that debt over their head forever; RELEASE it every seventh year.
Don’t withhold your RESOURCES from the poor, “open your hand… and lend to him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be” (v8).
And don’t hold onto your SLAVES forever either; release THEM every seventh year too, and don’t send them out “empty-handed; You shall furnish him liberally” (13-14).
There’s a lot more we could SAY about these verses, but let me just sum it up for you in one overarching principle - actually, we’ll let JESUS - “Do unto OTHERS as you would have them do unto you.”
You wouldn’t wanna live INDEBTED forever, so forgive OTHERS’ debts.
You wouldn’t wanna be ENSLAVED forever, so free others from service to you.
You wouldn’t wanna go HUNGRY or COLD because you fell on hard times - your crop didn’t come in one season, but the NEIGHBORS’ did, at the farm across the street; you’d want HIM to share with YOU, right? So do the SAME.
Actually, I do want to make THREE quick additional notes about this section, that help inform our OWN “neighbor love” - a “WHEN”, a “WHO”, and a “WHY”.
First, WHEN will poverty come on God’s people? It’s an interesting question, because v4 says, “there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that [He’s] giving you”, but then v11 says, “there will never cease to be poor in the land”; so which one IS it?
Well, we have to back up to v5 for the rest of the story: “there will be no poor among you… if - if only - you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment”.
And as we’ve seen WEEK after week now in Deuteronomy, that “if” may be a tiny word but it has MASSIVE implications. DID Israel “strictly obey” God’s commands here? No. We actually never hear record of Israel observing the Sabbatical or Jubilee years, when all debts and slaves were to be released. God COMMANDS it, in Exodus 23 and Leviticus 25 as well, so 3 different places He commands it, but we never ONCE read, “And then Israel KEPT it”. Therefore, God can say, can predict: “there will never cease to be poor in the land”, cuz you will NEVER “strictly OBEY” me.
Second: WHO are we called to “sacrificially care” for? Well, on the one hand, Jesus redefined our “neighbor” with his story about the Good Samaritan such that now EVERYONE is our neighbor, deserving of our loving care. Nevertheless, I think the repetition of the word “BROTHER” here - 7x in ch15 - is significant. And the NEW Testament corroborates that we ought to have a SPECIAL care and concern for our brothers and sisters in CHRIST; Galatians 6:10 “as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, but especially to those who are of the household of faith,” the CHURCH.
As a matter of fact, back in Deuteronomy, v11 in the Hebrew actually uses PERSONAL pronouns to exhort Israel to “open wide your hand to your brother, to [YOUR] needy and to [YOUR] poor, in your land.’” We take personal responsibility for the suffering of those in our community of faith; “If one member [of the Body] suffers, all suffer together” (1 Cor 12:26).
Lastly: when, who and WHY; WHY do we care for others? God offers us THREE reasons here.
For starters, “because I SAID so”; “be careful to do all this commandment that I command you”. Do it cuz I’m GOD and I SAID so.
Second, though, I will BLESS you for obediently caring for others; v6: “For the Lord your God will bless you”; v10: “give to others freely… for this the Lord your God will bless you… in all that you undertake”; v18: set free your slaves and “the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do”; God REPEATS his promise of BLESSING at the end of each ONE of these 3 sub-sections of point #3.
But the third and BEST reason to bless others is in response to our OWN blessing that we’ve ALREADY received from the LORD. v15: “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed YOU”.
We remember that WE once owed the LORD a debt that we could NEVER afford to pay back, but JESUS paid it ALL on our behalf.
We remember that WE were once poor - we were in DESTITUTE spiritual poverty when Christ found us - but 2 Corinthians 8:9 “the grace of our Lord Jesus, [is] that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
And we remember that we were once ENSLAVED to our SIN; but “our old self was crucified with [Christ] in order that [our] sin might be brought to nothing… we are no longer enslaved”; “For freedom Christ has set us free; [let us] not submit to the yoke of slavery ever again” (Gal 5:1).
Brothers and sisters: THIS is why we forgive debts, give freely, and serve OTHERS, because in CHRIST, we have received the forgiveness of OUR sins, the riches of his GRACE, and LIBERATION from our BONDAGE.
And “we love, because HE first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19)
Lastly, and most important of all: #4- We are called to holiness in our VERITICAL relationship, with the LORD. (15:19-23)
I’ll be brief here, because we’ve touched on this already in this sermon, and I’ve explained in previous sermons in Exodus and Leviticus the practice described here of consecrating “the firstborn males of your herd and flock… DEDICATING them to the Lord”... why they can’t “have any blemish”... why Israel was forbidden from eating its BLOOD, which belonged to the LORD.
But here’s what it all boils DOWN to, the PRINCIPLE: God gets our BEST. He oughta get our FIRST and our BEST.
CONCLUSION: So I want to leave you with 2 things: a COMMISSION, and a consolation. The commission is simple: give God your BEST this week. The “firstfruits” of your time, talent, and treasure. Not just 10%; let’s love Him with ALL of our heart, mind, soul & strength. And let’s love OTHERS - those whom GOD loves - as an EXPRESSION and OVERFLOW of our love for Him. Let’s give God our BEST.
And here’s the consolation: when we FAIL to, let’s give Him PRAISE that God gave HIS best for US, gave His only SON, JESUS, for YOU.
Let’s pray.