+Points to ponder

1. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘holy’ (or ‘holiness’)?
2. Is Jesus call for us to ‘be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’ attainable? If so, how?
3. How did God describe holy living in Leviticus 19?

+Sermon Transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Let us pray: Hear us, O Lord, when we cry out to You; and that we might receive what we ask, enable us by Your Holy Spirit to ask only what accords with Your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord; who with You and the same Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Our text for today’s consideration is from Leviticus 19, but I want to do it a bit differently than what we just heard a few minutes ago. If you have it with you, I invite you to open your Bible to Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19 is a speech that God commanded Moses to speak to the people of Israel. It begins with these words: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Throughout the speech, sections of the speech end with either “I am the Lord your God” or simply “I am the Lord.” There’s too much in the speech to consider the whole thing today, so we are going to focus on a portion of this speech that corresponds well with our Gospel from Luke. Listen to verses 11–18, in which God speaks about how the Israelites were to interact with one another. “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by My name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Verses 33–34 relate to this and expand it, as we shall see. “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”

And then God ends his speech through Moses with these words: “And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules and do them: I am the LORD.” This is our text.

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” What does that mean? The structure of Leviticus helps us see. Chapters 1–16 teach us the ways that the holy God provides holiness to His people. Then Chapters 17–26 speak of how God’s people, made holy by Him, live holy lives. Let’s talk about both of those this morning, that GOD’S HOLINESS MAKES HOLY PEOPLE WHO LIVE HOLY LIVES IN HOLY LOVE.

Again, the holy God’s holiness makes His people holy. God alone is holy, but repeatedly in Leviticus we hear God calling on his people to be holy.

We can misunderstand this as a demand for the Israelites to make themselves holy by their actions, but that’s the wrong way to hear it. Chapters 1–16 show that God provided sacrifices and priests to perform sacrifices. In this way, God made His people holy.

God alone is holy, but repeatedly in the New Testament, God also calls you to be holy. For instance, St. Paul in 1st Thessalonians writes: “For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.” Or as the writer of Hebrews puts it: “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

And so, “we do not wait for peace to fall out of the sky, so-to-speak, but we actively seek it, without compromising confession of the truth. Through Christ’s sacrifice, Christians are already considered ‘holy’ in God’s sight. Just as Christians will actually be holy in heaven, they should strive to become holy on earth.”

Now, we can misunderstand these passages as putting forth a demand for us to make ourselves holy by our actions, but that is the wrong way to hear it. Consider the bellwether passage for we Lutherans: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

We are holy by grace alone! By faith alone! How can that be? By Christ alone! God makes us holy by giving us the holy life and holy death of Christ Jesus!

As for the Israelites, God provides holiness to you. Dr. Luther’s explanation to the Third Article of the Creed speaks to the fact that the Holy Spirit is at work via the Gospel. He says, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” God also gives us the gift of His Sacraments as we are baptized into His name most holy, and nourished with Christ’s holy body and blood.

As with the Israelites, we, God’s people, made holy by Him, live holy lives.

GOD’S HOLINESS MAKES HOLY PEOPLE WHO LIVE HOLY LIVES IN HOLY LOVE.

Again, made holy by God’s holiness, God’s people live holy lives in holy love. Now, as part of chapters 17–26, Leviticus 19:11–18 focuses on life together with other people. Here is what that looks like: Not stealing, dealing falsely, or lying; Not swearing falsely by God’s name; Not oppressing or robbing a neighbor; And the list goes on, but here’s where it culminates: Holy people don’t hate or hold grudges. Holy people love their neighbor as themselves.

Along with loving God, that summarizes well what holy living is. Even the lawyer in today’s Gospel understood, quoting Leviticus 19, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

So, holy living involves loving my neighbor, but who is my neighbor? The neighbor is the fellow Israelite, but verses 33-34 expand this view!

The sojourner is to be treated as a native Israelite: love the sojourner as yourself. That is rather radical. The holy people of God are to love unholy, non-Israelites, just as they would love another Israelite or themselves.

We often limit our neighborly love. Sometimes we try to base this on Bible passages. Sometimes it is simply based on our particular biases.

The Gospel asks this very question, so Jesus tells the parable. The parable shows the leaders’ failure to love. The parable shows the Samaritan performing neighborly love. What a beautiful picture of Christ’s love! He came to us, beaten and dying; He bandaged our wounds and paid what was required for our healing – by His own wounds and death.

God truly expects holy lives like that from his holy people. In verse 37 we hear: “You shall observe all My statutes and all My rules and do them: I am the Lord.”

St Peter reminds us: “… it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” And Jesus says in Matthew chapter five: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

And, quite remarkably, having been made holy by our Baptism into and our faith in Christ’s death, we do live holy lives in Christ’s love toward neighbor. It is not as hard as we sometimes make it. Recognize who your neighbor is. Recognize your neighbor’s needs. Love your neighbor as yourself, in fact, as Christ loves you. Repent when you fail. Receive again the forgiveness and holiness of the holy God through His holy means. ‘Rinse and Repeat’ until Christ gathers you to Himself or He comes again.

“You shall be, will be, are holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

GOD’S HOLINESS MAKES HOLY PEOPLE WHO LIVE HOLY LIVES IN HOLY LOVE.

Amen.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

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