Yom Kippur - Day Of Atonement

God with us has some requirements that cannot be ignored.

Leviticus 16:1,6-10, 30 The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons, who died after they entered the LORD's presence and burned the wrong kind of fire before him.

6 "Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the LORD.

7 Then he must take the two male goats and present them to the LORD at the entrance of the Tabernacle. 8 He is to cast sacred lots to determine which goat will be reserved as an offering to the LORD and which will carry the sins of the people to the wilderness of Azazel. 

9 Aaron will then present as a sin offering the goat chosen by lot for the LORD. 10 The other goat, the scapegoat chosen by lot to be sent away, will be kept alive, standing before the LORD. When it is sent away to Azazel in the wilderness, the people will be purified and made right with the LORD.

30 On that day offerings of purification will be made for you, and you will be purified in the LORD's presence from all your sins.

To know God and have "God with us" is an accomplishment that few will ever achieve despite the fact that so many of us are seeking to know him. Anyone that is interested in knowing God has so many worldly options available but there is only one way that God has provided. 

We don't have to figure it out for ourselves, God's word gives us a great amount of teaching on how to have "God with us" and the benefits that it brings. In my three previous post, from the book of Isaiah, we looked at the: Hope of God with Us, the Peace of God with Us and the Rule of God with Us.

God gave his people the desire to have a relationship with him and he mercifully gave them the rules to follow so they could approach him without losing their life. Don't forget the consequences of Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, back in Leviticus 10:1-3, the sons were the first priest that did not take God's holiness serious.

It is amazing enough that God would come to be with us and give us hope and peace for this world but the good news of God's story doesn't end here. It is even more amazing that God would give us his plan for us to follow so that he can be with his people for all of eternity.

Our relationship with God is governed by God's rules.

Exodus 30:10 "Once a year Aaron must purify the altar by smearing its horns with blood from the offering made to purify the people from their sin. This will be a regular, annual event from generation to generation, for this is the LORD's most holy altar."

God gave his people a calendar full of rituals, feast and festivals but the most important annual day that he gave his people was Yom Kippur. A day that God's people did nothing physically to provide for their own forgiveness, they could not bring a sacrifice, they had to depend on the sacrifice and the work of their high priest to provide atonement and forgiveness of their sins.

God's people in the Old Testament could not come into God's presence as casually as we do today. (Hebrews 10:19-22, Ephesians 2:18) Only the high priest was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place and that was only allowed one day a year on the Day of Atonement.

The day began as every other day, the daily sacrifice of a one year old lamb, would precede the annual Day of Atonement rituals which would allow the high priest, Aaron, to enter the most holy place without the penalty of death. (Exodus 29:38-42, Numbers 28:3-6)

Two goats are needed to represent the truth of the atonement.

1. The first goat shows us the debt that must be paid.

Our rebellion against God requires the death penalty, we didn't believe God when he told us that "we would surely die" as a result of our sin and now we live in the reality that God is true to his word. (Genesis 2:17)

Psalm 103:9-10 He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. 10 He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

Jesus work on the cross was the ultimate fulfillment of this ritual sacrifice, the blood of the animal sacrifices were a picture of the true sacrifice that God's people needed. When we were transformed by the gospel we became members of God's family and that includes an inheritance as heirs of God's kingdom.

2. The second goat is for the people

The goat which is driven away from the camp, into the wilderness, to never return, symbolizing the even greater agony of our Lord, His separation from the Father because of our sins but it also symbolizes the removal of our sin away from us.

Psalm 103:12 He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

God's people confess their sins and God sends their sin as far as the East is from the West to no longer be brought up as a charge against us. And since we are freed from our sins we can experience God with us here on earth and we have have the hope of glory. (Jeremiah 31:34, Colossians 1:27)

The slain and abandoned Savior offers you atonement.

Matthew 27:45-46 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. 46 At about three o'clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

The two goats together are an illustration of the work that was accomplished through the death of Christ on the cross. Jesus blood was spilled to be the substitute sacrifice that was required to pay the debt of sin that we owed and he was sent outside of the camp, abandoned by God. (Hebrews 9:1-29)

Jesus sacrifice is the ultimate fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, our great high priest did all of the work, he brought the sacrifice that was offered for our forgiveness so that we could approach God intimately. (John 1:29)

Jesus offers his children the true and lasting day of atonement that each of us must experience in a personal way. Have you had a personal day of atonement when you were made made right in God's eyes?

RELATED ARTICLES

Day of Atonement (bible.org)

The Guilt Offering

The King provides a way to restore our relationships.

Leviticus 5:14-15,17-18 Then the LORD said to Moses, 15 "If one of you commits a sin by unintentionally defiling the LORD's sacred property, you must bring a guilt offering to the LORD. The offering must be your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value with silver, as measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. 

17 "Suppose you sin by violating one of the LORD's commands. Even if you are unaware of what you have done, you are guilty and will be punished for your sin. 18 For a guilt offering, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value. Through this process the priest will purify you from your unintentional sin, making you right with the LORD, and you will be forgiven.

Leviticus 6:7 Through this process, the priest will purify you before the LORD, making you right with him, and you will be forgiven for any of these sins you have committed."

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So far in the book of Leviticus we have seen the first four sacrifices that God established for his people so that they would be able to approach his holiness. This is important because the people that originally received this information have just completed the Tabernacle and now that God is with them there they must know how to approach him.

The fifth sacrifice that Leviticus gives us is usually called the Guilt Offering which doesn't give you a clear idea of what it is since feeling guilty was a common part of all of these offerings. A better name is restitution offering since this was given to repay debts caused by unintentional sin against:

• Holy things (Leviticus 5:14–16)
• Sin against God’s commands (Leviticus 5:17–19)
• Sin against a neighbor (Leviticus 6:1–7)

When the offense is against God and his holy things, he shows us how to return his stuff back to their clean, holy state. In our culture we have very little sense of the holiness of God, we have been given so much freedom in Jesus that we take it for granted. We fail to see that holy things need to be respected and protected from unholy uses that would make them unclean. 

When the offense is against a neighbor and their things, it may require more than an apology to make things right between you. This offering helped show remorse for your sin so that the people you offended will see that your repentance is genuine.

Atonement and restitution go together like repenting and obeying, it is always good when we have verbs to back up our change of heart. The offender is in great need of both, repentance and obedience, the first brings about pardon and the later proves the condition of the heart. 

Remember the way that Zacchaeus reacted after Jesus changed his life, a notorious taker became a most generous giver after he received God's forgiveness he voluntarily gave back what he took and paid interest. (Luke 19:8-10)

The Joy Of Being Forgiven And Cleared Of Guilt

Psalm 32:1-2 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! 2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

God's people didn't groan when they received God's rules, it is unfair that we named these first books of the Old Testament "The Law" so that they seem like a burden, we don't see any of the rules in the Torah as a source of joy.

But God's people were joyful about the law because it was their source of information about how to please their God so they could live without fear. The man made gods of the pagans didn't come with any clear instructions on how to please them. (Psalm 1:1-2) We have been blessed with God's revelation of himself from the Torah all the way to the book of Revelation and every book in between.

Loving God And Your Neighbor

Repairing relationships is the main story of the Bible. The Old Testament sacrifices show us that as we become right with God through his atoning sacrifice we should be able to restore our relationships with the people around us. 

The people back there in Moses day didn't realize it but we know that those sacrifices were pointing toward a better sacrifice. The only sacrifice that truly mattered, the only sacrifice that can make peace with God and restore my relationship with my friends and neighbors.

God didn't need to do anything to reconcile our relationship with him, he could have allowed us to continue into the downward spiral that our sin caused, he could have done nothing to help us and it would not change his holiness. 

But God did everything that we couldn't do to have a peaceful relationship with him, not that we in any way deserved it, he personally gave us the best gift ever so that we can stand before him with confidence. (2 Corinthians 5:5-8) 

God's awesome goodness toward us should control everything that we do, it should give us a huge desire to please him in everything, living for ourselves should not be an option for God's people. (2 Corinthians 5:9, 14-15) 

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

20 So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

God came down to our level to restore our relationship with him so how can we think we can refuse to restore the relationships around us? The Old Testament sacrifices show us the high cost that God was willing to pay to make us right with him. I have no excuse to hold resentment and judge those that have offended me.

I should imitate God by giving the gift of restored relationships away to others. His example of extravagant giving is the standard that I must live up to. As God's ambassador I need to share the gift of restored relationships with my friends and neighbors so they can do the same. 

RELATED ARTICLES

The Guilt Offering (bible.org)

The Purification Offering

The King offers cleansing when we become stained with sin.

Leviticus 4:1-2 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. This is how you are to deal with those who sin unintentionally by doing anything that violates one of the LORD's commands.

Leviticus 5:13 Through this process, the priest will purify those who are guilty of any of these sins, making them right with the LORD, and they will be forgiven. The rest of the flour will belong to the priest, just as with the grain offering."

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The most important thing we need to know about God is that he is holy. His holiness is at the core of who he is and it is the driving force behind his righteousness, justice, mercy, wrath, compassion and all the other attributes of God.

Because of God's holiness we cannot approach him in an impure state or we will be consumed similar to the way that the sun would destroy us. We know that the sun is powerful and good but you would need something to cover you to allow you to have access without burning up.  

So far in this series from the Book of Leviticus we have seen the rules for worshipping God:

• The Burnt Offering shows us that God is merciful in providing a way for us to approach him through the blood sacrifice.
• The Grain Offering shows us that we need to be grateful for his mercy in providing us everything that we have.
• The Peace Offering was a celebration of our renewed fellowship that we have because of God's mercy.

Our next lesson in how to worship God tells us how to continue to receive God's mercy when we fail him. 

The sin offering was actually a purification of God's people and God's places that he has designated as holy. The purification rituals were done so that God could inhabit those holy spaces and come close to his people without jeopardizing their safety.

The purification offering had different sacrifices required for different people and the amount of purification that would be needed:

• the high priest (vv. 3–12)
• the congregation (vv. 13–21)
• a tribal leader (vv. 22–26)
• an individual member (vv. 27–35)

The application of blood to the holy areas of the tabernacle restores the sacred space that was defiled by the sins of the priest. The blood was applied to the veil, the incense altar, and the altar of burnt offering so that the sacred space would be cleansed.

As you move on from the priest to the congregation, to the tribal leaders and then to an individual's sin you see a decreasing level of threat to holiness. The lack of holiness in Israel's leaders required more blood to be applied to more places, including the holiest places, whereas the sins of one ordinary person required less.

The popular notion theses days is that sin is sin, no matter which one you commit, is terrible theology. God's law shows us that sin has various levels of consequences, in this chapter we can see that unintentional sin and defiant sins are not treated the same. There are premeditated sins that the Bible says puts us in great harm and there are smaller sins that you are not even aware of such as accidently taking a pen home from work.

Another popular idea is that my sin is my sin and you should stay out of my business. We think it doesn't concern anybody else but God's word shows us that the individual sinner has a negative affect on the whole community. When God sent the Jews into exile, many good people suffered and died as a result of national sins. It's not just a personal thing, individual sins affect the tribes and the entire nation, that's why we have the responsibility to look out for each other. (2 Samuel 12:1-10, Galatians 6:1-3)

This offering shows us our sin nature, our natural ability to do wrong by God's standards, we don't need to learn how to sin, we can do it without any effort. The old definition of sin that I learned in Sunday school is not good theology. I was taught that sin is when you know what is right and you don't do it. This definition is completely discredited by the demand for a sacrifice that covers unintentional sins. (Also in Psalm 19:12-14)

The Old Testament shows us that the purity of God's places and his people could only be restored through the blood sacrifice. In Leviticus four we see that the result of these sacrifices was forgiveness of the sins of God's people. (Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35; Leviticus 5:10,13; 6:7)

Pardon for sin was accomplished to some degree through the animal sacrifices, otherwise the High Priest wouldn't be able to come into the most holy places in the Tabernacle and the Temple, but the New Testament tells us that these sacrifices didn't forgive our sins. (Romans 3:20, Hebrews 10:1-23)

It seems to be a contradiction but maybe what looks like a contradiction is actually a difference in perspective. The Matthew Henry Commentary shows us the difference in the types of forgiveness that we are talking about.

Under the old, sacrifices must be often repeated, and after all, only pardon as to this world was to be obtained by them. Under the new, one Sacrifice is enough to procure for all nations and ages, spiritual pardon, or being freed from punishment in the world to come.

-Matthew Henry Commentary

The sacrifices of the Old Testament when done with the right motivation clearly brought them forgiveness from punishment in this world (1 John 1:9) but the sacrifice wasn't enough to obtain pardon that would free them from punishment in the after life (John 3:16).

Offering the Old Testament sacrifices flowed from the life of one rightly related to God by faith, but was not the means of the right relationship, just as Abraham was counted as righteous by his faith. Doing good, even following the rituals of the law, didn't get anybody into Heaven.

1 Timothy 2:5  For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.

The perfect sacrifice is the only one that will get you to a forever home with God, it had to be the sacrifice of the perfect God/Man that could forgive us and give us the right to be God's children living with him for eternity. 

Have you found the perfect lamb for sacrifice? 

RELATED ARTICLES

The Purification Offering (meetinggodinthemargin.com)

The Provision of Sacrifice in the Old Testament (crossway.org)

Was There Forgiveness Under the Law of Moses? (christiancourier.com)

The Burnt Offering

You can't approach the King without a sacrificial gift.

Leviticus 1:1-4 The LORD called to Moses from the Tabernacle and said to him, 2 "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you present an animal as an offering to the LORD, you may take it from your herd of cattle or your flock of sheep and goats. 

3 "If the animal you present as a burnt offering is from the herd, it must be a male with no defects. Bring it to the entrance of the Tabernacle so you may be accepted by the LORD. 4 Lay your hand on the animal's head, and the LORD will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him.

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In the previous post we saw that nothing else could be more important than knowing God and knowing his demands. Something in mankind has always made him aware that there is a higher power and they knew that they should be concerned about making sure that higher power is pleased.

Our God is the only higher power that we need to know, he is the real God and he wants to have a relationship with us. The fact that we are unclean makes it dangerous to come close to our holy God if we ignore his rules. Thankfully God has given his people the information that we need so that we can safely approach him. 

Just as you wouldn't come into the presence of an earthly king without a gift, you certainly shouldn't approach the ruler of the universe without a gift. The believers in the Old Testament would not ever consider going to the tabernacle or the temple without a sacrifice.

If they wanted to come into God's presence a costly gift from their herd or flock was required. It had to be a real sacrifice that cost them something, it wasn't a sacrifice just because it was burned on the altar, it was a sacrifice because it was expensive. They had either purchased the animal or they had the expense of raising it from birth.

Going to worship was a mentally, physically, and emotionally draining event. Thousands of years later we have lost the worship experience that God's people had back in the Old Testament. We come to worship so casually without much forethought or preparation.

Imagine the impact of bringing your own animal, laying your hands on the innocent and personally taking it's life while the priest caught the blood in a basin. After you caused it to bleed out and die you still had to cut your animal into pieces and wash them while the priest burned them, piece by piece, on the altar.

The burnt offering has so many symbols that point to Jesus:

• The bull speaks of our Lord as the patient, unwearied laborer, always doing the Father’s will. 
• The sheep represents the Lord as the meek and lowly one. 
• The goat speaks of Christ as our substitute. 
• The turtledove points to Him as the man of sorrows (mourning dove)
• To cleanse and restore the sinner to fellowship with God

The way to atone for our sins and restore our fellowship with God was through the blood of a perfect sacrifice. This truth was fulfilled perfectly and was replaced by a better sacrifice when Jesus came.

For 33 years the lamb of God was inspected and found to be without fault, he lived the perfect life to be the only sacrifice that actually pays the penalty for my sin. The symbolic sacrifices in the Old Testament only covered their sin for a season until the lamb of God offered himself as the only sacrifice that could bring salvation and make us holy. (John 1:29, Romans 3:25, 8:3, Hebrews 10:1-18)

It is much more difficult to have genuine, deep sorrow for our sin and truly appreciate the costly sacrifice made for us. We come so casually to worship, we seem to think that there isn't much required of us, we have forgotten the fact that holiness is still required in order to have a relationship with God.

God has only one intended destiny for mankind—holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and he did not come to save us out of pity—he came to save us because he created us to be holy.

-Oswald Chambers

Holiness is the reason for salvation, it is the ultimate reason that Jesus came to be sacrificed, becoming holy is the only way that I can spend eternity with God. Pleasing God is the most important thing in the world and the only way to please him is to become like him and that means being holy. (Hebrews 10:10)

We love to think that God wants us to be happy, healthy and wealthy but none of those things are going to get you into God's presence for eternity. The most important thing in life is your holiness achieved by accepting Jesus as the perfect sacrifice and then committing yourself to work to become more like Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit living in you.

Burnt Offering- Genesis 8:20-22, Exodus 29:42-46, Numbers 28-29 / 1 Samuel 7:9-10 / 1 Chronicles 21:18-22:1, Ezra 3:1-6, Job 1:5, Isaiah 1:11-20, Mark 12:33, Romans 3:25, 8:3, Hebrews 10:1-18

The Law of Burnt Offering- Leviticus 6:8-13

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How To Become Holy (thegospelcoalition.org)

What is a burnt offering? (gotquestions.org)

God With Us

What will you do with the best gift ever?

Matthew 1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

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Isn't Christmas all about love and peace on earth and hope for the world to be a better place?  Can't we have all of those nice things without Jesus? Can't I just enjoy the spirit of the season without being religious?

Yes, there is plenty of fun to share this time of year, and maybe people will be a little bit nicer for a little while, maybe. But if you meet the birthday boy and get to know him then the party will be a whole lot more meaningful and the thrill will last way after Christmas is over. Without the real reason for the season you will never have a life full of joy that will last into the next life.

Think about the truth of this sentence: "God with us."

I mean really think about it! It's been so long since God was with us that many of us think that it is just a fairy tale. Way back before our time God was with us in a close and personal way without fear. Adam and Eve enjoyed God with us in a way that we have never known.

From Genesis chapter three until Revelation chapter twenty-one, with very few exceptions, everyone lived in fear of meeting God. But when God came to be with us we didn't have to be afraid of him, the angels announcing his birth to the shepherds were more scary than God was as a fragile baby in a manger. We should be as excited as the shepherds were yet we behave more like the inn keeper.

Moses would be amazed that God is with us and we completely ignore him. Moses longed to see God but he couldn't do it straight on, he had to see God's backside, we have the ability to walk up to the manger and see him without a veil and so many of us refuse to do it.

Micah 5:2  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.

The Bible is full of predictions that told us about Jesus birth and what his purpose was for coming to be with us. The prophecy's were given hundreds of years before his arrival to authenticate the identity of this child and his mission, God's promised son is here and it is obvious that he has a purpose for being a part of our smelly, hurtful and sick world.

Colossians 1:15-17  Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  16  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.  17  He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 

The world is so irritated by the exclusivity of Christianity but our claims to truth are backed up by the Bible like no other religion. Jesus is unique because none of the other religious leaders authenticated themselves by being born in the circumstances that were predicted for hundreds of years.

None of the other religions have a problem getting along because they are all based on a man that claims to have a way that will get you to God. Only Christianity has a man that has been authenticated as God that tells us that he is the way to God.

Why is it so important to believe that Jesus is God?

1 John 4:14  Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

If you sin against somebody then that person is the only person that can forgive you. I need forgiveness for my offenses against God but God cannot ignore my offenses and leave sin unpunished. My sin is against God and he is the only one that can forgive them so God had to personally come to my world to suffer the consequences in my place.

That is the true wonder of Christmas! God purposefully came into our world to become so vulnerable that he could be killed. God is the only acceptable and willing sacrifice for our sin that makes it possible for us to be with him for eternity.

Revelation 21:3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.

God loved us so much that he gave himself to be the sacrifice to pay for our forgiveness. If I agree with God that my sin is against him and it is offensive to him then I can accept his payment for what I have done and I will be able to experience God with us for eternity.

That's the real meaning of the season that will bring you joy that will last in this life and for eternity!

A Community Of Peculiar People

Your source of blessings and love for your enemy should seem strange.

Luke 6:20-23 Then Jesus turned to His disciples and said, "God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. 21 God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. 22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

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Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with their creator and with each other but that didn't last for too long. The Bible is the story about how quickly our relationship with God was broken, the effect it had on all other relationships and the long road back to living in perfect community again.

God called out a community to be his people, he gave them a standard to live by that would govern how they related to himself and to each other. At Mount Sinai he gave the community ten simple rules that seems like an easy way to help them to live together peacefully but man has proven that we think we know better. (Exodus 19-20)

When Jesus began his ministry he also called for a community that would live by a different set of rules. From the mountain where Jesus first recorded sermon was given, he challenged us to live by a set of values that is completely opposite of normal human wisdom.

Our View Of Our Circumstances 

The people inside the community of Jesus followers have a different outlook on life and value things that the world despises. This community has a different idea of what it is to be blessed, this community realizes that sometimes our blessings are very well disguised to the point that the world is very confused by what we value and consider to be blessings.

Jesus said that his followers would be blessed at all times but especially when they are weak, poor, hungry and/or persecuted. We are not to go looking for ways to be persecuted but when we are our reaction is different. Because we know that all things work together for our good we realize that every situation is a blessing.

Pain And Suffering Have A Good Purpose
Cleanse and purify us by getting us to focus on God Cultivate our spiritual growth and strengthen our faith Certify his power to sustain us so that he gets the glory

Jesus also told us that the things that the world uses to describe blessings are things that we should be cautious about having. We usually define blessed as having power, comfort, success and recognition but Jesus tells us that we need to be cautious when we have these things and we should beware of other people that have these things.

Our View Of People Outside Our Community

When we live with the proper attitude about power, comfort, success and recognition we can live with a radical new freedom. We won't have any reason to put down other people because we won't be trying to build ourselves up. Therefore we can be generous in using our time, treasure and talents for the benefit of others instead of for our own interest.

When we realize that we are both sinners and saved by grace, we will have freedom from the values that previously defined us, and yet a regard and love for those who don't share our values.

- Tim Keller

There is a tendency to look down on people that are not on the inside, this is just as true inside the church as it is in the rest of society, very few people are drawn to befriend and seek the good of people that are not like us.

Luke 6:35-36  “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

It isn't enough to just tolerate your enemy and decide not to harm them, Jesus wants us to truly love them and do good to them, we are supposed to treat them better than most of us treat our best friend.

Since God is kind to the unthankful and the wicked (that's us) we are obligated to do the same. We should have the same heartfelt compassion to treat the people outside of the community of believers just as awesome as God has treated us.

Your source of blessings, the things you value and your love for everybody should seem strange to the world around you. So strange that they will know that you really are his child and they will be attracted to join us.

How strange do you look to the world around you?

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Tim Keller - The Community Of Jesus (podbay.fm)